[Discussion] Mass Shootings - Yeah, we need a thread just for this...

This year is the deadliest year ever in terms of mass shootings. In a political climate of polarization, it becomes harder to suss out legitimate information from the misinformation propagated by those with political agendas. Complicating this more is the continual resistance of 2nd amendment advocates to allow for political talk surrounding these massacres. This will involve political discussion to see if there are ways we can all agree might be good ways to prevent mass shootings.

This discussion should involve the details of any current, or future mass shooting, and how they compare to past mass shootings. How are they the same? How are they different? Do gun laws have an impact? Does the race of the shooter affect how we treat them? What makes one a hate crime and one an act or terrorism? Are these shootings the price of freedom?

I on the 26th wrote:

They shot one or more of the kids.

I should probably amend that to "They shot one or more of the kids and/or teachers." They admitted they didn't try to breach the classroom on their own and took the hits in public opinion and now are trying to hide something from oversight.

The time between it being too early to politicize a shooting event and it being too early to politicize the next one is really getting small.

imbiginjapan wrote:

The time between it being too early to politicize a shooting event and it being too early to politicize the next one is really getting small.

We are getting Gish Galloped by mass shootings.

imbiginjapan wrote:

The time between it being too early to politicize a shooting event and it being too early to politicize the next one is really getting small.

So clearly we can't politicize them at all! We just need more guns in good people's hands, like cops and vigilantes and everyone who can tell whether someone is a bad guy by how they look/talk/live...

/sarchasm.

It’s the doors. Every building where people have been shot had doors. Ban all doors. -Ted Cruz

Banning doors won't work. If people want doors, they'll find a way to get them, legal or not. So you're ultimately only hurting the good guys who want doors for the security of their homes and jobs.

Good doors with a gun could have prevented all this.

Clearly the answer is to get rid of schools . No more schools, no more school shootings.

Tscott wrote:

Clearly the answer is to get rid of schools . No more schools, no more school shootings.

That's Kirk Cameron's solution.

Republicans in my state thought long and hard about what they could do to solve the problem and shat out a law that cut the number of hours of training teachers had to go through before they could carry at school from 700 hours to just 24 hours.

Gov. DeWine has already fallen over himself in a rush to say he'll sign it into law so everyone should remember that when he inevitably runs for a federal office and tries to rebrand himself as a "moderate Republican."

Teachers still have to provide their own paper and markers, but they will receive an AR and a box of ammo per semester.

OG_slinger wrote:

Republicans in my state thought long and hard about what they could do to solve the problem and shat out a law that cut the number of hours of training teachers had to go through before they could carry at school from 700 hours to just 24 hours.

Gov. DeWine has already fallen over himself in a rush to say he'll sign it into law so everyone should remember that when he inevitably runs for a federal office and tries to rebrand himself as a "moderate Republican."

What's the over/under that arming teachers with a bare minimum of training will lead to MORE dead kids?

I mean, given the number of teacher I saw tortured by kids...

Jonman wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:

Republicans in my state thought long and hard about what they could do to solve the problem and shat out a law that cut the number of hours of training teachers had to go through before they could carry at school from 700 hours to just 24 hours.

Gov. DeWine has already fallen over himself in a rush to say he'll sign it into law so everyone should remember that when he inevitably runs for a federal office and tries to rebrand himself as a "moderate Republican."

What's the over/under that arming teachers with a bare minimum of training will lead to MORE dead kids?

I mean 95% of teachers don't want guns and there's a non-zero number of teachers who do want them that shouldn't have them. So I'd say it's pretty much certain that something will go wrong.

SallyNasty wrote:

Teachers still have to provide their own paper and markers, but they will receive an AR and a box of ammo per semester.

Yeah, I don't even think they're getting the guns for free.

Considering how often cops shoot black kids because they “feared for their lives”, I see arming poorly trained teachers going really well.

Paleocon wrote:

Considering how often cops shoot black kids because they “feared for their lives”, I see arming poorly trained teachers going really well.

On average teachers are probably less racist than cops, so it's probably an improvement!

Except for the inevitable armed black teachers shot by 'mistake' during a mass shooting event

polypusher wrote:

Except for the inevitable armed black teachers shot by 'mistake' during a mass shooting event

The Tree of White Supremacy...

It will "work" until a POC teacher shoots a Kyle Rittenhouse.

Looks like the uvalde pd is using a biker gang to intimate the press.

Axon Halts Plans to Sell Flying Taser Drones to Schools

Police tech company Axon is halting a controversial plan to develop aerial drones for schools equipped with stun guns after internal backlash, which reportedly drove members of its own ethics board to announce their resignations.

And yet another one

Three people are dead and four others are wounded after someone opened fire inside a manufacturing facility in western Maryland Thursday afternoon, authorities say.

A Maryland state trooper later suffered a minor injury in a shootout with the suspect about 5 miles away from the manufacturing plant, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. The shooter was captured and is alive, officials said.

Anyone want to guess the shooter's race?

Nevin73 wrote:

And yet another one

Three people are dead and four others are wounded after someone opened fire inside a manufacturing facility in western Maryland Thursday afternoon, authorities say.

A Maryland state trooper later suffered a minor injury in a shootout with the suspect about 5 miles away from the manufacturing plant, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. The shooter was captured and is alive, officials said.

Anyone want to guess the shooter's race?

It's Western Maryland. Ever been out there?

maverickz wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

And yet another one

Three people are dead and four others are wounded after someone opened fire inside a manufacturing facility in western Maryland Thursday afternoon, authorities say.

A Maryland state trooper later suffered a minor injury in a shootout with the suspect about 5 miles away from the manufacturing plant, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. The shooter was captured and is alive, officials said.

Anyone want to guess the shooter's race?

It's Western Maryland. Ever been out there?

Exactly. Though a MD "mass shooting" is three dead.

It's early in the legislative process, but it's more than just the usual thoughts and prayers.

Bipartisan group of senators announce agreement on gun control

CNN wrote:

A bipartisan group of senators announced an agreement on principle for gun safety legislation Sunday, which includes "needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can't purchase weapons," they said in a statement.

Notably, the announcement includes the support of 10 Republican senators, which would give the proposal enough support to overcome the Senate filibuster. The agreement is significant given how divided lawmakers have been over the gun issue, but the actual legislative text is not yet written.

The proposal includes support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, an enhanced review process for buyers under the age of 21 and penalties for straw purchasing.

And there was some other good news on the gun control front this week:

Manhattan Judge Dismisses NRA’s Countersuit Against State AG: Gun Group’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Claim ‘Is Simply Not Supported by the Record’

Law and Crime wrote:

A Manhattan judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s countersuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), rejecting the gun group’s accusation that it’s the victim of a political “witch hunt.”

In February, the attorney general’s office warned that advancing the NRA’s counterattack would give regulatory targets a new tool to “harry prosecutors.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen considered the competing arguments for months before ruling in the AG’s favor, but the blistering 14-page opinion suggests that it wasn’t a close call.

“The investigation followed reports of serious misconduct and it uncovered additional evidence that, at a bare minimum, undermines any suggestion that was a mere pretext to penalize the NRA for its constitutionally protected activities,” his decision and order states.

...

“Although certain of the Attorney General’s claims were dismissed by the Court on legal grounds, they were serious claims based on detailed allegations of wrongdoing at the highest levels of a not-for-profit organization as to which the Attorney General has legitimate oversight responsibility,” Cohen wrote, emphasizing the NRA’s charitable status in italics. “And many legally viable claims remain. The narrative that the Attorney General’s investigation into these undeniably serious matters was nothing more than a politically motivated – and unconstitutional – witch hunt is simply not supported by the record.”

The proposed law is pretty weak. Encouraging state red flag laws, not making a federal one. And not raising the assault weapons age to 21 or just banning them outright. It's better than doing absolutely nothing, but just barely